Where to buy a $5 bag of M&M's
Written: Dec 17 '01
|
Product Rating:
|
|
|
Pros: Polite Service, Clean Rooms. LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION
Cons: Paying for parking and generally over-priced.
The Bottom Line: Be ready for some unexpected expenses. Location, however could not be better. Very convenient for Leisure Travel. For business, I'd choose otherwise unless your business is at the Convention Center.
|
|
|
| bterry's Full Review: Hilton San Diego Gaslamp Quarter |
I extended a business trip a day or two and decided to visit San Diego... the city I was born in (in Balboa Naval Hospital, which means we didn't stick around long enough for me to actually "know" my birthplace). Since most of my travel is done for business - I was very excited to be taking a personal trip to San Diego.
So a friend and I drove down from LA. Before we left, we searched for hotels on the internet & found the Hilton in the Gaslamp Quarter. Since we knew that the Gaslamp Quarter was one of the places we wanted to go once we got to San Diego, it seemed like a good start. Couple that with my Hilton Honors membership (points, points, points!) and that high speed internet connection was included on the list of amenities & we thought we'd found a gem!
When we arrived at the hotel, we discovered that you had to pay to park. The rate is $18 per day. I found this a bit curious since none of the other hotels I frequent charged for parking. Having no choice, we chalked it up to being in a tourist area and the fact that everything is always more expensive in California & gave our keys to the valet.
When we checked in, we found there was no reservation, even though we had made one. It turned out that our name was misspelled and the reservation was quickly found.
We had a bell boy deliver our bags, so I took advantage of the opportunity to ask him for recommendations on restaurants and attractions in the area. He gave us several options for dining and shops and seemed to know the area well. It sounds like a given, but you'd be surprised at how many hotel employees are unfamiliar with the area they work in.
While up in the room, our bell boy was also gracious enough to point out a couple of features in the room. Among those features - the Mini Bar. He explained that each of the items (candy bars, nuts, etc.) was on a sensor. If you pick it up, you're automatically charged unless you replaced the item to its original spot within 20 seconds. I found this to be interesting... but after he said that a bag of M&M's was $5, I decided that this was not something I wanted to play around with.
Our bell boy also informed us that the high-speed internet connection was temporarily down. Not an issue for me, but my travel companion was on call... not to mention that he is a high-tech computer geek... so this was a bit of a disappointment to him. Thank Goodness for dial-up in a crunch, huh?
The room itself was pretty typical, but here are a couple of things that I particularly liked:
* Down comforters on the bed... MMMmm so nice.
* Regular thermostat instead of those 6 foot noisy machines that I can never seem to find the "right" temperature on.
* Small terrace w/ a sliding door that opened out onto the street. It overlooked the Convention Center, which is really pretty at night.
* Mouthwash included amongst the complimentary toiletries.
* Several TV channels, including some that aren't usually provided like TLC and MTV.
After checking in, we left the hotel and ventured out into the Gaslamp Quarter. This is where the great LOCATION kicks in. Everything was within walking distance. Great shops, tons of restaurants with any type of food you could ever want, a comedy theatre... EVERYTHING. If you aren't one for walking, they have bike cabs as well.
The next morning, I went down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast. I found the buffet to be mediocre at best, and terribly overpriced. $2.50 for a dainty cup of coffee. $3.50 for a glass of orange juice... And these were charged on top of the cost of the buffet. The buffet itself had a great variety... fruits, eggs, bacon, sausage, French Toast, yogurt, sweet rolls. You name it, they had it. But the quality of food was certainly not worth the $20 I ended up paying for breakfast. And even though the wait staff was extremely polite, the service was slow. For a buffet, you think that they could quickly bring just drinks and the check... but oh well.
Because my visit was during December, I opted not to use the pool or any of the beach facilities... but I could see the pool from my room and it looked clean.
Check out went smoothly and we were on our way. I definitely liked the hotel, and do recommend it because it is nice... but think that if I go down to San Diego again in the future, I might check out the Horton Grand Hotel, just for something different & less "chainy".
Recommended:
Yes
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
bterry
|
|
Location: Closer Than You Think
Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 23 members
About Me:
I am never home anymore.
|
|
|
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.